This invention relates to apparatus for producing finished booklets using adhesive binders and stapler/finishers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,425, issued Sept. 25, 1984, discloses apparatus for producing booklets from sets of sheets fed seriatim from a copier/duplicator or the like. The apparatus includes an adhesive binder and a stapler/finisher, and sets of sheets can be provided either to the binder or to the stapler/finisher depending upon the mode of operation selected by the machine operator. The apparatus for finishing booklets disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,425 operates on an "on-line" basis. Therefor, all steps required for completing one booklet must be carried out prior to the time the first sheet of the next set of sheets reaches the area where the booklets are assembled. In order to provide sufficient time for completing the production of booklets in the finisher, the associated copier/duplicator can briefly stop production of copy sheets after each set of sheets. However, this requires the copier/duplicator to be operated at less than its maximum capacity. Alternatively, apparatus can be provided for momentarily interrupting the flow of the first sheet of a set of sheets to the assembly area in order to provide time for completion of the booklet being formed from a preceding set of sheets. Apparatus of this type is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,297, issued Apr. 16, 1985 from U.S. patent application Ser .No. 422,069, filed Sept. 23, 1982, in the name of W. C. Wilson et al and entitled "Apparatus and Method for Offsetting and Delaying Delivery of Sheets in an Adhesive Binder," and in the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,672, issued Jan. 16, 1979 in the names of L. E. Burlew et al and entitled, "Copier Finisher for an Electrographic Reproducing Device." While apparatus for delaying the flow of the first sheet of a set of sheets works satisfactorily to solve this problem, it does require the implementation of additional apparatus in a binder or stapler/finisher.
Another problem that may occur when using an adhesive binder or stapler/finisher in combination with a copier/duplicator is that the apparatus for producing booklets can become temporarily disabled for a variety of reasons. When the finisher is not operative, there is a loss of productivity to the operator thereof and, if the finisher is leased, a loss of revenue to the leasor of the finisher. To some extent this problem is reduced with apparatus of the type disclosed in the before-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,425 because the operator has a choice of producing booklets using either an adhesive binder or a stapler/finisher. However, it clearly could be more desirable to provide apparatus which could, at substantially anytime, allow the machine operator to produce booklets on-line either by using an adhesive binder or a stapler/finisher.